Heat transfer studies

Drying in subresidually-saturated systems at elevated temperatures has been studied for two different operating conditions. One condition started with flowing nitrogen gas through the test section and simultaneously heating up the porous medium at the same time (denoted in what follows as the ''transient heating case''). The other condition started initially with heating up the porous medium with no flow, and then running the nitrogen gas flow through the test section after a steady-state temperature distribution had been reached (denoted in what follows as the ''steady heating case''). A 90 degrees C isothermal boundary condition was set on the aluminum wall. An average of 9% discrepancy in the mass balance calculation compared to the digital balance measurement has been found in the transient heating case. An average of 4.3% discrepancy in the mass balance calculation compared to the digital balance measurement has been found after the nitrogen gas flowed through test section for the steady heating case. A large discrepancy has also been found before the nitrogen gas admitted to the test section. This is because some of subresidual water in the test section has been drained out from the bottom due to the gravity effect and the strong convection flow in the porous medium before the nitrogen gas is admitted. This discrepancy may be reduced by closing the end tube at bottom before the nitrogen gas is admitted to the test section. The drying characteristics of this system are reported. A theoretical study has also been initiated in an attempt to supplement the experimental results, and this system is described in the report. A one-dimensional transient system is assumed in which a two-component (condensable and noncondensable) gas mixture flows through a porous medium with evaporation. The numerical calculation will be performed in the future work to compare to the experimental results